


A Generation Lost in Space

by ebbet



Category: Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: 1970s AU, F/M, Gay Luke, Gay Panic, Getting to know you, Inspired by Art, M/M, Not in Space, Slice of Life, Terrible pick up lines, alcohol mentioned, but also gay suave-ness, eventually, set on earth, watching the neighbors through the curtains but don't worry it's requited
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-01-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:41:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22220482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ebbet/pseuds/ebbet
Summary: Best to just quote pencilscratchins / Rebecca: "Like, Luke and Leia live together (Leia’s a lawyer, Luke’s a kindergarten teacher) Han’s their mechanic neighbor with a giant newfoundland Chewie and his best friend Lando who’s currently crashing with him. Han has a really shitty car that he constantly is speeding in. Leia alerts Luke any time their “hot sad” neighbor Bodhi across the street is hanging out on the porch so Luke can mow the lawn shirtless. Their neighbors on the other side are a very tall, polite British man and his partner who is certainly cursing everyone out in another language."original Tumblr post
Relationships: Bodhi Rook/Luke Skywalker, C-3PO/R2-D2, Leia Organa & Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa/Han Solo
Comments: 52
Kudos: 401





	A Generation Lost in Space

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Star Wars 70s neighbors AU](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/549844) by pencilscratchins / Rebecca. 



> I saw Rebecca's [Star Wars 70s neighbors AU ](https://pencilscratchins.tumblr.com/tagged/star-wars-70s-au)and it wouldn't get out of my brain. I hope this amuses you? 
> 
> So Leia blasts You're So Vain when she's annoyed by a certain neighbor. But Han's perspective, it's a little more Waterloo.
> 
> But this is Luke's perspective. 
> 
> So you can pick the song.
> 
> (not beta'd; lmk about errors)

“Luke! Luke! He’s talking to his dog again!”

Luke looked up from his bowl of Twinkles and looked over to where his sister was standing near the window. Leia pivoted towards him and fixed him with an intense stare. 

“You have to come look at this,” she hissed. “I think he’s really lost it this time.” 

Luke sighed and wandered over, mouth full of cereal and milk. 

“Don’t stand in the window! He’ll see you!” 

“Ok, ok, chill,” Luke said, stepping back. 

They stood in silence watching their neighbor lay out some kind of argument, point by point, to the gigantic brown Newfoundland staring up at him.

“It’s like the dog understands,” Leia said. “But that’s not possible.”

Luke shrugged. “Dogs understand a lot more than we know. Kids, too. People are always saying that kids don’t—”

Leia held up a hand and hissed at him again. Luke took another bite and watched his neighbor nod at his dog and then set off with a determined look in his eye, the dog loping behind him. 

“His scrapheap of a car must have finally bit the dust,” Leia said with a somewhat triumphant air. “Thank God we won’t have to hear that terrible—”

There was a knock on their door. 

“No,” Leia breathed. “You get it. I’ve still got curlers in.” She glared at Luke until he shrugged and then she dashed into the bathroom, yelling, “I’m not here!”

“Your wife makes a lot of noise for someone who’s not there,” the man said when Luke opened the door. He looked down at Luke’s cereal and crinkled his nose. “Twinkles? Are you about five?”

“Leia always says you’ve got to be about five to teach five-year-olds.” Luke grinned and held out the hand unoccupied by his breakfast. “Luke.”

“Han,” the man said. “Wanted to make sure you were settling in all right.” 

Han’s first statement clicked into meaning in Luke’s head and he laughed out loud. “Wife?” 

Han tilted his head. Floppy brown hair fell over one eye. 

“Dude, that’s my twin sister.” Luke snorted again. “Leia.” 

The Newfoundland looked up and made a kind of weird groan. Not a bark. But not a whine.

“Shut up, Chewy!” Han glared down at his dog. The dog shrugged. Luke didn’t think dogs could shrug. But this one definitely just had. Did dogs even have shoulders? Come to think of it, a shoulder was just an arm-adjacent hip joint, so did that mean that dogs had four hips or—

“Come to apologize for the noise pollution from your mufferless car?” Leia’s arch voice interrupted Luke’s thoughts and he turned to see his sister, immaculately coiffed and already dressed in her court suit. He didn’t think she had a hearing today.

“Actually, I came over to welcome you to the neighborhood, but I can tell you’ve already been brainwashed by the Dieteu-Poe’s across the street since no one else complains about—” Han was waving his pointer finger around. 

“Your smoke-spewing junker of a car?” One of Leia’s eyebrows rose. 

“Look,” Han said, “I’m a mechanic.”

“I bet you are,” Leia said and pushed past him onto the porch. She was a good foot and a half shorter than Han which meant that she had to stare up at him. But height didn't mean much to Leia Organa. So she stabbed one finger into his chest and said, “A good mechanic would take better care of his own car.” 

Shoulders held high, she swept past him and to the car. “Luke, you’ll have to get to school on your own today; I have an early meeting,” she called back as she reversed down the driveway. 

There was a moment of silence as they watched her red Volvo zoom down the street.

Han scratched the back of his neck. “Your sister, huh?” 

“Yeah, that’s Leia.”

There was another silence.

“So, you need a ride to school?” Han asked, a kind of look on his face that Luke found difficult to parse. 

“That’d be great,” Luke said with a nod. “Just gotta grab my jacket and I’m good.”

The car ride was mostly silent. Conversationally silent, anyway. The dog sat in the backseat but stuck his head over the front seat. Luke scratched him behind the ears once but he didn’t seem to care about much except Han. 

“So you teach kindergarten and your sister’s a …”

“Lawyer.”

Han snorted. “Makes sense.”

“She works for the ACLU,” Luke said. “And she’s good at it.” He felt obliged to defend her. 

Han held up his hands. “Don’t mean in it a bad way, dude. It just … makes sense.”

The dog barked in Luke’s ear. 

What a weird morning.

* * *

The next few weeks passed without further incident. Unless you counted how Leia had taken to eating breakfast with one eye on the window, just to keep up a constant stream of criticism regarding their untidy, insane, polluting neighbor and his weirdly gigantic dog. Luke went over and knocked back a couple of cans with Han and was surprised that the inside of his house was so clean. Definitely a bachelor, but he had a nice tv and a bookshelf with books on it and he had a throw pillow. Only one. But still. Pretty good for a straight guy. 

“Luke,” Leia said one morning while he was struggling with a tube sock. “I think the guy across the street’s seeing someone. There’s a new car over there all the time.”

Luke stopped.

“Like, the guy that lives directly across from us?”

The guy that had that long dark hair he pulled back into a ponytail and wore those loose cowl-necked shirts and always waved at Luke when he shuffled out in pajama bottoms and no top to get the newspaper when Luke was just casually eating breakfast on the porch. It was a nice habit. Eating outside. Seeing your—getting fresh air before work. That was nice.

“What?” Luke managed, hopping on one foot to the window. Leia rolled her eyes at him.

Luke watched as a woman emerged from the house. She was in a low-cut red blouse and had a kind of tousled Farah Fawcett haircut. The man followed her to her car and she kissed him on the cheek before getting in.

“Looks like he’s seeing her,” Luke said and swallowed hard. Guess he’d been wrong about the neighbor.

“I don’t know,” Leia said slowly. Her eyes were narrowed as she watched the woman drive away. “I thought so, but … would you kiss someone on the cheek after a night of passion?” 

“Uh,” Luke said. Their neighbor was in a black robe. A short black robe. Luke could see part of his thigh. “I don’t know.”

Leia tilted her head and asked, “Really? You don’t know if you’d kiss someone properly after a night of passion or you don’t know if you’d kiss that guy?” She pointed at him. At their neighbor. 

“What?” Luke blushed. “What?”

“Luke. Luke!” The second one was a dawning of understanding, and now Luke knew he was in for it. “You’ve got a crush on him!” 

“What, no,” Luke said, bending to pull his sock on. “I’m going for a jog.” He did up his sneakers, tutting anytime Leia tried to ask him a question, and sprinted out the door. 

He didn’t look at their neighbor’s house as he ran by. If he had, he might have noticed that the man was lingering on his front porch, fiddling with his mailbox.

* * *

“He’s home!” Leia said as she flicked through yesterday’s mail. “On the front porch.”

“With his girlfriend?” Luke asked. Not that it mattered.

Leia glanced up and back. “With a girl who is his friend.” 

“Same thing,” Luke said and pulled a can of Sprite from the fridge. 

Leia’s fingers stopped flicking through envelopes and she said slowly, “You really need to mow the lawn, you know.”

“God, no, not today, it’s like ninety-five. It’s summer. Let me have one day off, please,” Luke half-whined.

“No,” Leia replied. She had that look on her face.

Luke groaned and downed half the can. 

“Besides,” she said. “You can work on your tan. You looked like an idiot at the beach last week with your farmer’s tan. Your chest is so pale it’s like the color of a piece of paper, milk boy.”

Luke threw up his hands at her and went to the garage. At least he’d be working on his tan.

* * *

“His name’s Bodhi,” Leia reported a week later. “I saw him at the bank.” 

Luke didn’t look at her. “So you accosted him?”

“I chatted to him like a normal person,” Leia said and rolled her eyes. “You know, I’m new in town, my brother and I just moved to the neighborhood, yadda yadda.”

“Great,” Luke said and stabbed a meatball. “Cool. Good for you.”

Leia twisted her fork in the spaghetti. She had a smug expression on her face. 

“The girl—”

“Whatever, Leia, I don’t care.”

“He said she’s a friend going through a hard time. I think her name was Jen?”

“Nice that he has a girlfriend named Jen.” 

Leia made an irritated noise in the back of her throat. “No, you absolute idiot. His _friend_. Not his girlfriend. He was very clear about that. Very. Clear.”

“Cool,” Luke said. He cut his next meatball in half and chewed thoughtfully. “Cool.”

* * *

“Still talking to his dog, I see,” Leia said a week later, peering over her steaming coffee in the direction of Han’s house. "There's another dude on the porch, too, and I think they're ... both talking to the dog? Maybe he's only friends with insane people. Do you think they're on drugs? Is the dog on drugs? Not that I'm against drugs, but why else would someone talk to a dog like a person?"

“Chewy’s nice. Lando's nice too." Luke glanced up from the kitchen table.

Leia hummed a note of disbelief.

"Yeah, he was telling me he used to be a Panther," Luke said in a deliberately off-hand way. "Or maybe still is?"

"Who?" Leia asked. 

"Lando. Han's friend?" 

There was a silence as Leia digested this information. Luke knew he'd got her curious now. But she wouldn't admit it. Not for a week. At least.

“We should get a dog,” Luke said. “We have a yard now.”

“I don’t have time for a dog,” Leia snapped. “Or for men who like dogs.” She pursed her lips and turned away from the window.

“Ok,” Luke said, even though he hadn’t said anything about that. He was scratching out his lesson plan for the week on a yellow notepad. He needed to pick up some more paste and maybe some newspapers for the— 

“Hey, Leia, do you save the newspapers? I wanted to do a paper-mache project with the kids this week.”

“Hmmm, no,” she said distractedly. Luke glanced up. Han was throwing a stick for Chewy. Lando sprawled across the sagging couch that graced the Solo porch. Leia caught Luke watching her and shook her head. “I don’t think he has a real job. Why is he always home?”

“Han's not always home,” Luke said. “You just work too much.” He got up and checked his hair in the hall mirror. 

“I’m gonna go see if the neighbors have extra newspapers.”

Leia waved him off, her attention absorbed by canine-centric espionage. 

Unwilling to disturb his sister’s tableau, Luke hit up the Dieteu-Poe house first. A tall British man answered the door and welcomed Luke in, pushing him to sit at the kitchen table with a cup of tea while he bustled around in search of newspapers. 

“Thanks, Mr. Dieteu,” Luke said. "It's really nice of you to give me some."

“Oh, I’m Mr. Poe,” he said with a laugh. “My husband is Mr. Dieteu. And it's just rubbish, no need to be so grateful.” 

“It’s Ar-theaux,” the shorter man said as he wheeled himself into the kitchen. He rolled up to the table and stuck his hand out. “Don’t even think about calling me Mr. Dieteu.” Then he said something in another language and laughed to himself. 

“Arthur!” his husband hissed.

“He doesn’t get it,” Arthur said with a wave of his hand. "Doubt he knows Tunisian slang."

Mr. Poe tutted and dropped a pile of newspaper on the table. “Is that enough?”

“Oh, yeah,” Luke said. “Thank you.”

“Might need some more,” Arthur said. “That kid across the street gets five newspapers a day.” Then he said something else under his breath and laughed again.

Mr. Poe glared at his husband and said archly, “I don’t think Mr. Skywalker—”

“Luke, Luke, please,” Luke said. “Mr. Skywalker was my uncle.”

“Not your father?” Arthur glanced over at him. 

“Uh, I didn’t know my dad,” Luke said and gulped down some of the tea. It burned his mouth but he kept drinking. When he looked up again, the two older men were having some kind of wordless battle which ended with Arthur shrugging.

“We have our bimonthly dinner next week,” Mr. Poe said. “It’s a nice chance to get to know all the neighbors. And welcome new additions. I usually send out an invitation, but with Arthur’s—anyway, I haven’t gotten around to it yet, but 6 pm, next Friday night.”

“Bodhi usually brings a nice wine,” Arthur supplied. “Cultivated boy. Lonely. Sad. But he has good taste.”

“You and your sister don’t need to bring anything,” Mr. Poe continued, talking over his husband, “Just yourselves.”

“Uh, great,” Luke said and gulped down the rest of his tea. “Thanks for the newspapers.”

He tucked them under his arm and stood. 

At the door, Luke bit his lip and said, “You might be right. I think I do need a few more.” 

Arthur snorted and saluted him. “Good luck, kid.”

“You look fine, Mr. Skywalker,” Mr. Poe said, dusting something off Luke’s shoulder. “Eminently attired. For a young person, that is.”

Luke took a deep breath and crossed the street. He made it to Bodhi’s door and shuffled his feet on the front step before he took another deep breath and pressed the doorbell.

The Farah Fawcett girl answered. Luke attempted to be cheerful.

“Bodhi’s not here,” she said with a grin. “I’m Jyn.”

“Jen?” 

“Close enough,” she said with a shrug. Luke watched her retreat into the house and tried not to gawk too much at the house’s interior. She returned with an untidy stack of newspapers and dumped them into his arms. 

“Bodhi’s a huge fucking nerd and gets like every paper in the US, so if you need more just come over.”

She stood in the doorway watching Luke struggle with the stack of newspapers and then said with a smirk, “Don’t worry. I’ll tell him the neighbor he thinks is cute came by.”

Luke stuttered out something that probably didn’t make sense and, heavily laden with more newspapers than his kindergarteners would use in a year, stumbled back to his house, dropped them on the floor and sank face down into the couch with a groan. At least Leia wasn’t there to witness his glowing face.

* * *

Friday came up faster than expected. Leia had panic-bought several wedges of fancy cheese from the posh store downtown. 

Not even Brylcreem could deal with Luke’s hair. Leia’s favorite lipstick melted.

“Shit, Luke! I left the cheese in the fridge at work!” 

“What?” Luke yelled back. His head was under the faucet in an extreme measure to dampen the frizz. 

“I left the fucking cheese!” Leia appeared in the doorway. 

“They told us not to bring anything?”

“British people are just like that!” Leia cried. “I know! I’m the one who went to boarding school!”

Luke shrugged and stuck his head back under the faucet. It was too late to reason with her and the cheese wasn’t making it to this party. 

Leia tackled her brother’s hair with their shorted hairdryer and he’d used lip liner to fill in her lips—it was the color she’d wanted, anyway. Close enough. 

The twins considered themselves in the mirror. Sometimes they cleaned up well, but this wasn’t was of those times. 

“Why do we even care?” Luke half-groaned. “They’re just our neighbors.”

Leia raised an eyebrow and they both burst into laughter. 

Seven minutes late, they stumbled next door. Mr. Poe let them in, accepted Leia’s story about the abandoned cheese, and ushered them through to the living room. Arthur was mixing drinks and laughing with Lando and Han, who clenched the can of PBR so tightly that it suddenly foamed up and spilled all over his pants. 

Oh, right.

Leia had That Dress on. 

Chewy licked up the spilt beer, his tail wagging. 

Leia breezed right by him and kissed Jyn and Bodhi on each cheek before tucking herself into their conversation and leaving Luke standing awkwardly with Mr. Poe near the door. Mr. Poe was telling him about how the family across the street was actually on summer vacation in the Bahamas, but Luke was trying very hard to avoid making eye contact with their handsome sad neighbor who’d undone his ponytail and had tidied his scruff and Luke knew he’d combust if Bodhi glanced his way. 

“Need help in the kitchen?” Luke clutched Mr. Poe’s arm.

“Of course not!” Mr. Poe said. “Go get a drink from Arthur.” 

Luke felt like he couldn’t move. His jeans felt ridiculous. Bodhi was wearing a suit. A suit. And Luke was in jeans like some kind of teenager and oh God, he taught children and he dressed like a child—and then Han was pressing a PBR can into his hand and Luke downed half of it and then was normal enough to say, “Great, how are you?” to Han’s question. 

“So,” Han said in an undertone. And then didn’t say anything else. Luke waited. Han looked down at Chewy. Chewy made one of his dog-yawn-moans and trotted across the room and pushed his head under Leia’s free hand. She looked down, rolled her eyes in Han’s direction and began scratching Chewy’s head.

“Traitor,” Han said lowly. “Chewbacca Solo, you better come back here at once.” He didn’t say it loudly enough for the threat to be effective. So Chewy settled down at Leia’s feet and she bent down to keep petting him, her concentration centered on Jyn, Bodhi, and Arthur’s conversation, but never neglecting her fluffy new friend. 

Lando snorted. 

"Dude, that's where you wish you were," he said and dodged Han's distracted punch.

“Your sister—” Han managed.

“Yeah?” Luke stared at Han’s left ear. It was red. 

“She got a man?”

“Uh,” Luke said. “Don’t think so. She's never brought anyone home. Or mentioned anyone. So it’s pretty unlikely.” 

Han grunted and grabbed Luke’s beer and chugged it. 

“Hey!” Luke said a bit too loudly. The little group on the couch glanced over and Han thrust the can back into Luke’s hands and then held up his own hands in innocence, leaving Luke blushing like an idiot and clutching an empty beer can.

Han pushed Luke into the chair next to Bodhi and draped himself across the free armchair.

“So how’s the fight for equality treating you, princess?” was Han’s opening salvo. Luke’s mouth twitched. 

Leia burst into a fiery summary of her recent activities and why feminism wasn’t only a women’s issue and the latest police brutality protests, gesturing wildly with her wineglass while her other hand was hidden in Chewy’s fur.

Luke didn’t miss the glance that passed between Arthur and Bodhi. He did miss the second glance that shot between Arthur and Jyn as Bodhi turned his head towards Luke. 

“I don’t think we’ve properly met,” Luke heard someone say and looked up and realized that Bodhi was talking to him. Staring at him. Intensely staring at him. 

“Luke,” Luke choked out. 

“I know,” Bodhi said amused. “You know I’m Bodhi, right?”

“Yeah, but not in a weird way,” Luke blurted. 

“Want another drink?” Bodhi asked. “A better drink?”

Luke stood up quickly said, “Han just gave me this beer. I’m open to anything. Drinking. Fancy drinks. Better drinks. Nice wine. Piña coladas. Scotch. Whatever’s cool.” He bit off the 'dude' that threatened the end of that sentence and followed Bodhi to Arthur’s bar.

Bodhi set his wine glass down and gave Luke a long, considering look. 

“You seem like a lambrusco man,” he said at last and reached for a dark bottle. 

“Why?”

“Just hoping you like dark, fruity things.” 

Luke’s heart skipped a beat.

Bodhi glanced up and winked. 

He goddamn winked.

“Oh, I do,” Luke said and clinked his glass against Bodhi’s. 

Bodhi smiled back. 

It was going to be a good summer.


End file.
